Since When?: A Mollie Monologue.

Mr. Kamalani’s class today is one of the classes I hate the most; music theory. Like, I came to Waverly to actually sing, so whenever he decides that he’s gonna teach us things that 95% of us don’t even care about, it makes the period drag even longer. Also, it doesn’t help that I got, like, 5 hours of sleep last night. God, can this period just be over?

“So you will know if the note is sharp or flat if…” Mr. Kamalani turns around from the board and faces the class for someone to answer. No one raises their hand; probably because half of the class is asleep at their desks. “If no one volunteers, I will choose someone to answer,” he sternly warned the class. I raised my hand to not on;y end the class’ misery, but also my own.

“The symbol is on the correct line on the music staff,” I answered. Mr. Kamalani smiled and nodded his head and continued to teach the class. I looked over to where Milo was sitting; he was definitely texting Sophie with his phone inside the desk. For someone that was a dual major, he surely doesn’t give a shit about vocal class, which makes me angry sometimes. The dude has the luxury of doing two of his favorite things in school and here I am, having to pretend that being a vocal major was my main passion.

As I was about to shut my eyes for a quick snooze, a folded piece of paper gets thrown on my desk from behind me. I turned around to see the girl who sits behind me.

“It’s from Aaron,” she simply said. I turned back around and look at the note on my desk. I unfolded it to see what was written on it.

Can you hang back for like 10 minutes after class?

I turned my head to look at Aaron. He was so focused on taking notes for this class, I was surprised that he was the one to even send me this note. In the next line, I wrote back.

Sure, is everything cool?

I folded the piece of paper back up and passed it to the girl behind me that then passed it to Aaron. I was getting nervous; why the fuck was I getting so nervous? I felt my stomach go numb in the way I would get excited for a day off of school or a dance performance. Was this, like, having butterflies? It wasn’t long after the note came back to me and landed on my desk. Don’t look like you were waiting for this, Mol; sheesh. I slowly opened the note to read Aaron’s response.

It will be when I get to talk to you. 🙂

I look back up from the note and turned around from my seat. I look at Aaron who’s now looking at me with a smile on his face. I couldn’t help but smile back.

…

“You’re ready, Mol?” I looked up from my desk and see that Milo is standing there. The rest of the class is getting ready to leave Mr. Kamalani’s class for the day. I put my things in my backpack, not answering Milo back right away.

“Uhm, I’ll meet you outside,” I answered. “I gotta hang back and ask Mr. Kamalani something.”

“You can totally ask him back at my house though?” Milo questioned. I rolled my eyes at his response.

“Yeah, like I totally want to ask your dad about school things outside of school,” I said sarcastically. Milo sucked his teeth and shook his head. “Gimme like 10 minutes, okay?” Milo sighed and walked towards the classroom door to exit. Thank God. I took a deep breath in and quickly exhaled when I see Aaron walking towards my desk. He sits in the seat next to me.

“Hey Mols,” Aaron greeted.

“Hey Serrano,” I replied back, trying to play it extremely cool. I feel myself slipping and failing miserably. “So, what’s on your mind?” Aaron exhales harder than normal, which makes me think he’s also nervous. Fuck, what is going on? Is this the moment? Is he going to tell me something like a secret? Have we been that obvious to each other?

“This is my first time asking this to somebody, but,” Aaron began to say. I feel the butterflies swarm even harder around my stomach. Since when did I start to feel this way toward Aaron Serrano? Aaron looks at me now and for fuck’s sake, I feel the sweat dripping down my back in the middle of Fall. “I have my first big show with my band this Friday and I want you to come.”

I blinked and felt the butterflies drop dead in my stomach. His what?

“Your band?” I asked. I didn’t mean to sound so disappointed, especially after seeing Aaron shift in his seat after I asked. “I mean, your band! That’s awesome!” I’m glad that it made him laugh.

“Yeah, my band and I got invited to perform at this showcase and it would be nice to have a familiar face in the crowd,” Aaron further explained. I think those butterflies just resurrected in my stomach.“Preferably yours.”

“Did your other friends say no?” I stupidly said out loud. I thought I was being funny, but I think a part of me still doesn’t believe that Aaron Serrano just asked me to be a part of such an important night for him and his band.

“I didn’t ask them,” Aaron simply answered. I felt like it was time for me to shut up and let Aaron talk for once. I think Aaron has been the only friend I had that makes it known when I should shut up and listen. Maybe that’s why I haven’t gotten in major trouble since actually being friends with him.

“Actually being friends with him”. Since when?

I look at Aaron and wait for him to continue talking, but maybe he was done. Maybe he was waiting for me to say something that wasn’t complete garbage. Aaron has this particular shade of brown eyes that I haven’t seen anyone with before. It’s not brown, and it’s not like hazel; they are literally honey-colored. Honey eyes. I completely get out of his trance when Mr. Kamalani calls out for us.

“Castro, Serrano; take this outside of my classroom, please,” Mr. Kamalani said. Aaron and I begin to gather our backpacks and prepare to leave the classroom for the day. Before I can answer Aaron back, he finally says something. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper.

“I never got to answer your note back,” Aaron said. He handed me the piece of paper. I was confused; all I said in my last note was “yeah, come to my desk after class”. Aaron left the classroom before I did. As I was walking out of the classroom, I unfolded the piece of paper to see what Aaron wrote.